Call to prayer

As anyone who has traveled or spent time in a Muslim country is well aware, the call to prayer and the reading of Koranic scripture is an intergral part of daily life. Brian and I had found it to be such a mesmirizing and evocative sound when we spent time in Istanbul and elsewhere in Turkey, and I was really looking forward to hearing it again and having the kids first experience it.

I was really surprised however when I was woken up around 6 AM our first morning and heard, not the clear high chant from our memories, but instead an overlapping chorus of voices, from high to low and clear to gutteral. And there was one in particular that sounded so much like a cow mooing or an engine revving that it got me everytime.

When we talked to a guide about it he explained that it was because Fes (or Morocco?) was one of the few places in the world left where indivdual live voices from each mosque are used instead of a common recording. I have no idea if that is true or not, but it certainly explained the unique sound of the call in Fes.